RELATIONSHIPS OF FLOW PARAMETERS AND TRAFFIC FLOW MODELS

Example 1: In a study of a highway, two platoons of vehicles were timed over a distance of 0.75 km.
The first platoon had a flow of 2520 veh/h and took 60 seconds while the second platoon
with a flow of 3600 veh/h took 72 seconds. Using the Greenshields model and these
observation compute;

i. The free-flow speed.

ii. The jam density for the section of the highway.
iii. The maximum flow of traffic.

Solution: Since we assume a linear relationship between the speed and the density,
the two platoons will form two points along the straight line graph that
joins the free flow speed and the speed at jam density.

i. Average speeds:

0.75km  3600 hs
u1   45km/h
60 s

0.75km  3600 hs
u2   37.5km/h
72s

ii. Densities:

q1 2520 veh
k1   h
 56veh/km
u1 45 km
h

q2 3600 veh
k2   h
 96veh/km
u2 37.5 km
h

iii. Equation of the line has a form of;

u  u1  m(k  k1) using the values obtained above

45  37.5 7 .5 3
m    0.1875
56  96 40 16

3 3
u  45   k  56  and u k  55.5
16 16

iv. From which;

i. The free-flow speed is 55.5 km/h (the u-intercept in the

equation)

ii. The jam density is at u = 0

55.5  16
k  296 veh/km
3
 iii. The maximum flow is

ufk j 55.5  296

qm    4107veh/h
4 4

Example 2: Study data shows that the flow - density relationship of a highway is given by

q  294.735u  64u lnu

Estimate the following values;

i. The free-flow speed.

ii. The speed at the maximum flow.
iii. The maximum flow of traffic.
iv. The density at the maximum flow.

Solution:

i. The free flow speed occurs when the flow is zero:

0  294.735u  64u lnu

294.735
lnu   4.605234
64

u  e4.605234  100km/h

ii. The speed at the maximum flow:

dq  u
 0  294.735  64  lnu  
du  u

294.735  64 230.735
lnu    3.605234
64 64

uqmax  e3.605234  36.79031km/h

iii. The maximum flow;

qmax  (294.735  36.79031)   64  36.79031 ln  36.79031   2355 veh /h

iv. Density at maximum flow;

q
q  uk from which k
u

2355
k qmax   64 veh/km
36.79031

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 2 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.

Tutorial Problem 01:

A section of a highway is known to have a free flow speed of 120 km/h and capacity of
3600 veh/h. Traffic count that was made for 1 hour counted 2000 vehicles that passed
the observation point, which was located within the section.

By assuming the Greenshield model, find;

i. The space mean speed of the traffic.

ii. The density of the traffic.

Solution:

uf k j 4  qmax 4  3600
i. From qmax  we have kj    120 veh/km
4 uf 120

 u2  kj kj 120 2
q  uk  k j  u    k ju  u2 and 0 u2  k ju  q  u  120u  2000
 uf  uf uf 120

0  u2  120u  2000   u  100  u  20 

u1 = 100 km/h and u2 = 20 km/h

Both of these two speeds are possible (or feasible) as can be seen from the
speed-flow diagram.

q
ii. From q  uk we have k
u

2000 2000
k1   20 veh/km and k2   100 veh/km
100 20

Exercise: Solve the same question with the following data;

uf = 100 km/h, qcap = 3600 veh/h and q = 3000 veh counted in 1 hour.

Solution: Solutions for the exercise are;

kj = 144 veh/h,

u1 = 70.4 km/h u2 = 29.6 km/h

k1 = 42.6 veh/km k2 = 101.4 veh/km

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 3 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.

Tutorial Problem 02:

a. A north – south highway has 4 lanes in each direction. The capacity of the
northbound direction is 8200 veh/h/lane having a free-flow speed of 110 km/h.
Calculate;

i. The speed at maximum flow rate,

ii. The density maximum flow rate, and
iii. The jam density.

b. If a one-hour vehicle count in the northbound direction for the outside lane gives
7034 vehicles in a non-congested condition, calculate the space mean speed of
these 7034 vehicles.

Solution:

a. The maximum flow rate qmax = 8200 veh/h/lane

dq  2k q 
At maximum flow;  uf  1  max
0
dk  kj 
 

2k qmax
Since uf  0 then 1 0
kj

kj uf
And therefore kq  Likewise uq 
max
2 max
2

110km / h
i. Speed at qmax uq   55 km/h
max
2

qmax 8200veh / h / ln
ii. Density at qmax kq    149.0909 veh/km/ln
max
uq max
55km / h

iii. Jam density k j  2  kq max

 2  149.0909  298.1818  298 veh/km/ln

 u2 
b. From q  kj u   we have
 uf 

 u2  298.1818u2
q  7034  298.1818  u    298.1818u 
 110  110

298.1818u2
0  298.1818u  7034
110

b  b2  4ac
Using quadratic formula u1,2  we find;
2a

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 4 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.

 u1 = 75.73982 km/h and u2 = 34.26018 km/h

As the observed flow is less than qmax, the highway will be operating with
uncongested flow, and therefore the space mean speed will be the higher of the
two.

i.e. u = 75.7 km/h

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 5 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.